The New York Times (via This Week in Tech) describes growing protests over AOL’s decision to pursue a new e-mail certification system that will charge mass mailers a quarter-cent to one-cent per message to guarantee delivery to their users. The system designed by Goodmail aims to protect inboxes from unwanted spam while allowing legitimate mass e-mail to navigate through spam filters to its intended destination within an individuals inbox. In light of recent debates about a two-tiered internet, this new system from AOL is being described as the first foray into a two-tiered e-mail system.

(From Jeff)